1. Hazel’s customers will most likely judge her quality based on how well their lawns are doing and by looking at the state of her other customers’ gardens as well. The customers will also weight the services she provides with the price she’s asking for. And the most important is her knowledge about gardening and how committed she is. Lawns should be taken care of regularly so she should manage her time precisely not to miss an appointment or neglect a certain garden.
2. a. Like any other business forecasting is a vital part of the operations. Forecasting is needed to manage inventory, time and cash expenditures. With forecasting Hazel will be able to predict demand thus will be able to book her two part timers for certain dates. With forecasts she will also be able to get enough quantities of the fertilizers and tools she needs for the job. A forecast will also tell her when there will be available time required for her machine’s maintenance.
b. The inventory Hazel must have is fertilizers and seeds. One of the most important decision that Hazel must do on a regular basis is how much to order of each based on the shipping cost of each order and the available space she has for storage in order to minimize her cost (Economic Order Quantity). Hazel must also pay attention to the fertilizers and seeds’ expiry dates so that they don’t go unused.
c. Hazel needs to schedule her appointment and her machines’ maintenance time. Once appointments are set for each employee she has to assign the time slots between herself and her workers. Weather conditions can drive her to reschedule as well as health conditions if she or one of her part time workers get sick and can’t go to the appointment and something personal of importance comes up suddenly.
d. The quality of her work especially in the industry she chose is very important. Based on the quality of her work more customers will come asking for her services and she can then raise her prices.
e. The